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Comment by jason_slack | Hacker News Reader

I have the habit now of meditation for 1 hour each morning and then for 20-30 minutes before laying my head to pillow. It's really helpful to me to get myself in a space to start a productive day and end it with a good relaxing sleep. I usually get 4.5 to 5.5 hours each night. Up at 4:30am without an alarm and to bed by 11-midnight usually.

I attended a 10 day silent meditation retreat last year and it really had an impact of my technique and focus along with realizing my life is what I indeed make of it.

If anyone wants to start meditating, start slow. maybe just 10 minutes of trying to do basic breathing exercises.

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4.5 to 5.5 hours sounds ridiculously low. I thought humans need at least 8 hours of sleep to function well? Have you tried sleeping for longer and if you did, what difference did it make to your wellbeing?

Many people find that meditation reduces their need to sleep. A few months ago when I was meditating for around 1.5 hours per day (a mixture of walking and formal sitting meditation) I felt well rested on 5.5 to 6.5 hours of sleep, when my normal needs are 7.5 - 8 hours

Sometimes when I have insomnia I sort of daydream instead of sleeping. When I get up, I am more rested than the 3-4 hours or actual sleep would suggest. I had wondered if the daydreaming was similar enough to sleep to be a poor substitute

I find the opposite. On the nights where I dream a lot, I do not wake up well rested. The best rest I get is when you fall asleep, next moment open your eyes, and it's morning. But I haven't had much of that kind of sleep since I was a kid.

Apparently a non trivial percent of the population gets by with 5-6 hours due to having a certain gene. I had assumed it was quite rare, but found out that I know several of them.

They are more awake during the day than I am.

It is weird to say hi to my co-workers in the morning and they are all yawning and sucking down coffee, saying how tired they are. I just grin and realize I got around 1/2 the amount of sleep and drove 1.5 hours to work and not a drop of coffee has touched my lips.

actually, I'm older now than I used to be. (42) As a child, teenager, early 20's, etc I used to only get 3 hours each night. I spend my nights reading books, coding, etc. I have been told that this was really hard on my parents and grandparents as they didn't expect a child to need so little sleep.

Edit typo corrected 2 to 3.

Everybody is different, but 4.5 hours feels pretty low.

I'd be tempted to trade my hour of mediation for another hour of sleep.

Sleep is indeed important. Especially if you need it. By comparison my wife requires 8-10 hours each night.

I meditate 20 minutes twice a day and struggle to stay asleep for 8 hours. i am normally up after 6 hours sleep

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